As many of you may or may not know I have had this dream to be an entrepreneur in Bridgeport since I was 5 years old. I have always been a tinkerer, a creative old soul who enjoys the challenges and gratification of making something-well dare I say?...Out of Nothing!!!

It may have started even earlier when I learned I had the ability to sell a stick, because I convinced a neighbor that it had unique qualities. You might say I had a gift for seeing the extraordinary in everyday things and as much a gift for telling a great story. It is this foundation that ignited my passion for creating art, jewelry and accessories from Found and Repurposed objects.

My connection to Bridgeport,Connecticut- (my place of birth) began in grammar school and with family life. I was growing up in a manufacturing city with family members and family friends who worked in various Industrial sites throughout the City of Bridgeport. My memories go deep in a visit to the Warner Factory where my mother worked ( She would work in many factories in my lifetime). The women at their sewing machines would always give me gifts. The large thread cones became Christmas favors decorated and filled with candy and toys. This was also the case at the American fabrics Building as well. I was fascinated by how things were manufactured, how things were designed. I loved the movement of machines. Later my mother, then divorced, would work at Remington Arms unloading trains in Remington Woods Park. She was a larger woman from the backwoods of Maine growing up among many siblings and then in the 70's raising two daughters. She had the strength and gumption to show the men what she was capable of doing as it was during the time of the Women's Liberation Movement. We could see the Remington shot tower less than 1 block from our home. And General Electric was spread out in both directions from our home as well. Today it is a haunted ghost of what once was a sentinel for prosperity and growth.

I was lucky on so many levels to grow up in a city rich with opportunities, jobs and the University of Bridgeport where I got my lessons in the creative and technical skills of art and creating. My father worked for Connecticut Vendors. He fixed and filled most of the machines- cigerettes, candy, sandwiches and records in the jukeboxes. As a child at age three, I would get to travel in my fathers large van that had so many smells , but most memorable is the Juicy Fruit (TM) gum, Planters Peanut (TM) blocks, and cigarette smells that permeated my little childhood senses on any given day when my mother took ill during her pregnancy. I always enjoyed when my father worked on the UB campus, as I had the chance to hang out with the art students and sit in on classes. I developed quite a liking to art and all the attention it got my little kewpie doll self. Later I would discover the Salvation Army and my best friend who's father owned a soda manufacturing company across the street from my house.

I went to Summerfield School and was the student who was so creative, won awards, was a contestant in the Tom Thumb and Lavinia Contest. I also won awards and shook hands with then Mayor Curran for a poster I designed for the fire department.

I was the person that teachers left to monitor the classroom when they had to leave the room. The student who created plays and designed class activities based on art and drawing. And I loved being in school the most and hated when summer came. I had Summer melancholia until the first day of school began. I must have been quite a handful to my mother, who enrolled me in Art Linklater's School of Dance. I loved to dance, I loved gymnastics and it kept me busy and active. I loved to entertain and make people feel good about themselves. I always wished that I could say hello and shake hands with every person on the planet. I wanted to know everyone and wanted them to know me.

So this is an introduction to my entrepreneurial training. This is what shaped me into the person I am. I love to make things. I love to create ...whether its a work of art or a fantastic meal, to me this is the nature of what makes me an artist.